Delphi Works of Ford Madox Ford (Illustrated) (7 page)

‘Just sign your name, will you?’

The Princess signed her name, but she could not help seeing that the writing was very bad and the spelling was awful.

‘Why didn’t they send some one who could write better? Why! that “r” is more like a “k” than an “r”.’

But the giant shook his head mournfully.

‘They hadn’t got any one else in the army who could write except Merrymineral, and he was afraid to come.’

‘But weren’t you afraid to come?’ she said.

The giant shook his mace round so violently that it grazed the helmet of the dwarf, and cut his crest of roses off.

‘Whom am I to be afraid of?’ he growled. ‘I could kill your whole army single-handed’; and he laughed loud and long.

But just at this moment the Owl, that had been sitting on the floor behind the Princess’s chair, flew up on to her shoulder, and no sooner did the giant see the Owl than he jumped up from the floor, where you remember he was sitting, and he was in such a hurry that he knocked a hole in the plaster of the ceiling with his head.

‘Come, I say, you know,’ he said, ‘I can fight anything in reason — but I’m not going to tackle that, you know; besides, we’re ambassadors, and you can’t hurt us. I’m going’; and he rushed out of the room as fast as he could, and the dwarf followed him as fast as he could make his horse gallop, and they never stopped till they reached the camp of Merrymineral. For they were very frightened, you see.

After they had gone the Princess again dismissed the Councillors, and when they had gone, she said to Lord Licec and the Prince, who by the bye still remained:

‘Now let us finish our dessert’ — for the ambassadors had come in right in the middle of it.

After a moment the Princess said:

‘How absurd of him to think I would marry him — why, he’s old enough to be my great-grandfather.’ But suddenly she became grave:

‘But perhaps I ought to have thought before I gave the answer. Would it not have been better for my people if I had consented? for then he would kill no more of them.’

But the Prince became quite angry at such an idea. ‘It’s absurd,’ he said. ‘Why, as soon as he had married you and become king he would murder you and then kill just as many of your people as he will now’; besides, who knows that we may not still conquer him?’

The Princess turned to Lord Licec: ‘What do you say, my lord?’ she said. ‘I think just as the Prince of India — for even if he did not murder you he would oppress the people without mercy, and besides, your people would never allow you to marry him, so that is out of the question.’

The Princess gave a sigh of relief. ‘Since you say so, Lord Licec, it must be right; besides, I don’t think I could ever marry him — he is such a very unpleasant sort of man.’

And the Prince answered:

‘You are quite right there’; and he seemed quite happy again.

Soon after it became evening, and Lord Licec had to go out to look after his army, and the Prince too went to see that his men were all prepared for any night attack — for his men were right in the very front of all, and so they were quite close to the enemy, who might at any time begin an attack.

So the Princess was left all alone with the Owl, but she did not feel lonely with him, for he was very sociable, and would do anything that he was told to do. So they played hide-and-seek till it was too dark to see any more, and then she went to bed and slept soundly till the rays of the sun falling on her face the next morning woke her up. She was soon dressed, and when she had finished she went into the next room, where she found Lord Licec already awaiting her.

‘What does your Majesty intend to do this morning? for I shall not be with you, as I am going to order the army to advance to the attack, and so your Majesty had better stay within the town for the rest of the day.’

‘Indeed, I shall do nothing of the sort,’ she answered. ‘I am going to lead the army to-day to see if we cannot regain some ground, for I had rather die fighting than be driven back like this, so please don’t say I mustn’t go; besides, the Owl will protect me; he promised to; didn’t you, Owl?’ and the Owl nodded.

‘But they may shoot the Owl with their arrows, and then—’

‘But the Owl before now, has conquered Merrymineral himself, and he may still do it. Oh, please don’t tell me not to go. If you’ll only let me go I’ll promise to keep near the Prince of India, and he’ll protect me, even if the Owl can’t.’

‘But the Prince of India is always in the thickest of the fight, and you will be in much greater danger if you keep near him.’

‘Oh, never mind the danger; do let me go.’

And she begged so hard that Lord Licec had to give in. She put on a breastplate and a sword, but she would not put on a helmet, for she said that it made her head ache, and that no one would know who she was if she covered her face up. So she only wore a gold circlet on her head, as she usually did, and besides this she carried a silver shield with the royal crest on it, and a small lance just like a knight’s spear, only not so heavy, and thus mounted on her white horse she rode to the very front of the line of battle, and there she found the Prince of India at the head of his men.

They had already furled their tents and were quite ready to begin the battle as soon as the others were ready.

The Prince was very much astonished when he saw her, for it was the last place in the world he had expected to see her in.

‘Do you really mean to say,’ he exclaimed, ‘that Lord Licec allowed you to come out to the field of battle? Why, he must be mad.’

‘Oh no, he’s not,’ answered the Princess: ‘but you see if I only beg hard enough he’ll let me do whatever I like, and then I promised to keep near you, for I thought you would protect me. However, you don’t seem very glad to see me — perhaps you think I shall hinder you — so I’ll go and ask some one else to take care of me, as you don’t seem to relish the task. Good-morning’; and she began to move off; but she knew very well that he would not let her go like that, and to tell the truth she rather hoped he wouldn’t, for she thought she would like him to take care of her better than any one else in the army. Of course he did stop her and said.

‘If you really insist on stopping on the field no one is more fit to take care of you than I. So
do
stop.’

And she allowed herself to be persuaded to stop with him.

Just as they had managed to arrange it so, a trumpet blew in the direction of the town, and immediately troops of knights and men-at-arms began to pour out of the gates, and to form the line of battle, and as each band of men came along they cheered long and loud at the sight of the Princess, and the Princess felt very happy, for she liked to know that her people loved her. Gradually the immense army came into one long line of glistening steel, and again the trumpets sounded, and the line began to move forward like a wave of the sea as it runs up the smooth sand sweeping all before it. The smooth plain which was to form the battlefield was dotted here and there with troops of cattle which had come down in the night from the hills to feed on the long sweet grass, and they raised their heads in astonishment at the line of knights and bowmen that marched slowly down on them; so they shook their heads and galloped off straight in front of the line, with their tails high in the air, and they were in such blind haste that they charged right through the lines of the enemy who were now approaching, and not only through them they went, but also through their camp, tossing the tents into the air with their horns as they went by. However, at last they reached the hills, and did not disturb the combatants any more.

Meanwhile the armies had got quite close together — so close indeed that they could see each other’s faces quite plainly — but they did not seem particularly eager to fight So when they had got thus far they halted, and looked at one another.

As yet Merrymineral had not arrived, for to tell the truth he was never a very early riser, and he did not see why he should hurry himself — for you see he was quite sure of winning the battle without much trouble.

Just opposite the Princess was the flower of the enemy, and she recognised many of the great men of the countries that had rebelled with Merrymineral. They did not seem particularly happy where they were, and especially when the Princess looked at them they looked very red and uncomfortable, as if they did not like it at all.

‘I do believe they’re ashamed of themselves,’ she said to the Prince; and he answered:

‘They certainly look like it.’

‘Do you think,’ she asked, ‘if I were to go over to them and offer to pardon them that they would leave Merrymineral and come on my side?’ The Prince thought a moment.

‘I believe they would,’ he said; ‘only if I were you I would not go, I should send an ambassador or a herald.’

But the Princess shook her head. ‘That would never do,’ she said. ‘I’m sure they’d be offended at that. Why, it would look as if I thought they were not to be trusted, and besides they would not hurt me. No, I’ll go to them quite alone.’

But the Prince said: - ‘You had better let me go with you, for if they did attack you it would be awkward; besides, you know you promised to keep near me all the morning, and if you go without me you will not be keeping your promise, don’t you see?’

So the Princess said:

‘Well, I suppose you’re right, only you must come alone.’

And as he agreed to this they went forward. Her own army evidently did not understand what she meant to do, nor, for the matter of that, did the enemy, but as they had neither of them received the order to commence fighting they neither of them advanced.

So the Prince and Princess advanced at a gentle trot until they were quite close to the others, and the Owl sat on her shoulder.

When they were quite close the knights tried to get one behind the other just as if they had done something they ought not to have done, and were each afraid of being punished first.

In particular the Princess noted the giant and dwarf, the ambassadors of the evening before; they tried to hide themselves behind the others altogether. For the dwarf this was easy enough, but for the poor giant, he could not manage it at all, he was so very big.

However, she did not look at all angry, and she only said:

‘Good-morning, my lords.’

And they replied in chorus:

‘Good-morning, your Majesty.’

So she went on:

‘I have come to ask you why you have assisted my rebellious subject, and what grievance you have? If there is any I will try to redress it.’ One of the nobles replied:

‘We have no grievances.’

‘Then why have you fought against me?’

‘Because we could not help it, your Majesty.’

‘But I should have thought you could have helped fighting.’

‘I mean, your Majesty, that Merrymineral threatened to kill us all if we did not fight.’

‘Then you were not very brave. But that has nothing to do with it.

What I wish to know is, whether you will now submit to me again?’

‘We would most willingly; only perhaps your Majesty might inflict some punishment on us for our misdeeds.’

But the Princess shook her head. ‘No
;
I will give you all a free pardon if you return to your allegiance.’ So the nobles gave a shout of joy, and they seemed quite happy again. And the Princess too was overjoyed; however, she ordered them to go each knight to his own men and to tell them what had happened, and to conduct them to her own army.

So they all went and did as they were told, and soon the whole army of Merrymineral melted away, with the exception of a very few, and these were mostly the servants of Merrymineral himself, and of the giant and the dwarf, who still remained faithful to him. However they seemed quite unhappy about it.